doug jones thinks we should get over trump’s sexual assault allegations, will consider voting with gop

The world has been saved! Led by Black voters, Alabama overcame all odds to defeat a plausibly accused child molester and twice removed court judge to slimly elect Doug Jones, a well-respected lawyer and Democrat, to the Senate in the crimson red state, dealing a huge blow to racism and the Trump administration.

Wait, those were headlines from last week.

Since then, the Left’s “victory” celebration after the Alabama special election has been diluted substantially. This is largely the fault of none other than Jones himself, who seems intent on demonstrating that progressive “wins” aren’t always what they seem in a rigged political system that values the maintenance of the status quo above all else—whether those existing power structures be hued blue or red.

Though his election came in part due to a valiant effort to hold men accountable for sexual violence, the unlikely senator-elect recently told CNN’s Jake Tapper that it’s time to move on from the at least 20 sexual harassment and assault allegations against President Trump. In what appears to be a massive pivot to the right, and away from the core that brought him to office, Jones argued:

“(T)hose allegations were made before the election, and so people had an opportunity to judge before that election,” Jones said. “I say it’s time to move on. Alabama has spoken.”

In case you weren’t convinced that Jones was not swayed by the thorough progressive media efforts to have an elected official who owes their success to Black women finally value the demographic and their concerns, Jones also promised Tapper that he would “of course” consider voting Republican as a member of Congress.

For a long time, other abolitionists and I have argued that our unwillingness to consider the validity of political divestment from far leftists, particular Black radicals, is detrimental to the true social change we require. I have based this argument on the reality that there are other ways to get things done that do not require “saving” a political party that has no allegiance to you. Jones’ victory-turned-betrayal, in addition to Atlanta mayor-elect Keisha Bottoms’ promise to commit to the police force after she was heralded for her victory as a Black woman, proves that wanting to focus our energies into other avenues is not an act of ignorance.

No disrespect to the Black women who put in hard work to elect Jones, but electoral politics is not the only way to “save” this country, and perhaps we should reconsider that it should even be saved. Black people and women who fully divest from the state are just as worthy of our gratitude as anyone else, and it is well beyond time that we value and support their efforts at least as much as we do electoral actions that are oftentimes futile, particularly for those most in need.

Perhaps instead of waiting until election night to highlight how Black women show up, proving our gratitude to those who do so in the myriad other ways that are necessary for our liberation might actually help to get shit done.